JP4623735B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector for electrically connecting a plurality of substrates in series.

In the case of electrically connecting a plurality of circuit boards that are connected side by side so that their circuit surfaces are on the same surface, conventionally, as shown in FIG. A method of connecting the electric wire 103 provided with the crimp connector socket 111 at both ends and the plug is general.
However, this connection method is costly because the number of parts such as plugs and connector sockets and the number of assembly steps are large, and a soldering process between the substrate 140 and the plug 110 is required.
Further, a space for routing the electric wire 103 is required, and it has been difficult to reduce the size and thickness.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-313462 discloses a technique in which a plurality of contacts are arranged in a sheet-like insulator in the same manner as a staple, and connected to a circuit of a substrate. However, the contact stability is low and sufficient for contacts. There is a problem in that the electrical connection reliability is low because it is not possible to form a sufficient elasticity.
Further, the insulator, which is an insulating sheet, has insufficient rigidity, and cannot be applied as a connector for series connection of substrates.

JP 2002-31462 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above technical problem, and has an object to provide a connector that has high connection reliability when electrically connecting a plurality of substrates in series, and is efficient for reducing the size and thickness of the substrate connection. .

The connector according to claim 1, wherein the connector is electrically connected at a connecting portion where a plurality of substrates are abutted to each other, and the connector includes a housing and a contact, and the housing is mounted on one side of the abutted substrates. And a contact storage portion that stores contacts for conducting electrical connection between the contact contact portions provided on the substrates on both sides, and the contact storage portion is provided on a side surface of the housing. There are engaging grooves on the inner walls on both sides that are generally parallel to the connecting direction of the board from the contact insertion port and along the inserting direction of the contact, and the contact has engaging pieces protruding on both sides in the width direction and is inserted into the insertion tip side. By having elastic contact pieces at two locations on the rear end side, and engaging the engagement pieces of the contacts along the engagement grooves provided in the contact storage portion. The elastic contact piece on the insertion tip side protrudes from one board mounting surface toward the board, the elastic contact piece on the insertion rear end side protrudes from the other board mounting surface toward the board, and the connector It is characterized by being mounted across one side of the substrate.
Here, of the two elastic contact pieces provided with the contact portions, one contact portion is connected to one of the adjacent substrates, and the other contact portion is connected to the other substrate.

Here, in the contact storage portion, the contacts are arranged substantially parallel to the board mounting surface .

Contactor DOO has engaging pieces, the housing has an engagement groove in the contact housing part, it has been inserted along the engagement piece contacts the engaging groove of the housing.
Here, the engagement pieces provided on the contacts are for insertion along the engagement grooves formed on the housing side, and are formed at both ends in the contact insertion direction. If engagement grooves are formed on both sides of the storage portion, it may be possible to stably receive a reaction force when the contact portion of the elastic contact piece comes into pressure contact with the substrate.

The contact and the housing may be locked by a lance provided on one side and a lance locking part provided on the other side .

Resilient contact piece of the contact may have a plurality of contact portions branches plurality.
Here, the purpose of branching the elastic contact piece into a plurality is to connect to the contact terminal portion on the substrate side with a plurality of contacts, and it is divided at the time of press working or the like while considering the contact pressure.

The substrate may be an LED module substrate, and the housing may have a notch portion for LED arrangement .
The LED module substrate is a substrate on which a light emitting diode is disposed.

In the connector according to the present invention, since the contact is inserted into the contact accommodating portion provided in the housing and the contact portion protrudes from the board mounting surface, the contact is disposed so as to straddle adjacent boards. Therefore, the contact can be thinned, and the substrates can be easily connected to each other.
Further, if the contacts are arranged substantially parallel to the substrate mounting surface, the contacts can be made thinner.

The connector is simply installed by inserting the engagement piece into the contact housing part provided in the housing along the engagement groove and snapping it with a lance, which reduces the number of parts and the number of assembly steps. The reduction effect is great.
In addition, since it has a simple structure and a small number of parts, it can be extremely small and thin.

  If the elastic contact piece is branched into a plurality of contacts, each of which is provided with a contact portion, the reliability of electrical connection is further increased.

  When the connector is used for series connection of the LED module substrates, the degree of freedom of LED placement is increased by cutting out the housing at the LED placement position, and the LEDs can be placed at regular intervals in the vicinity of the connecting portion. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size of the module substrate.

The example which used the connector which concerns on this invention for the connection connection of the LED module board | substrate of the light emitting diode which uses for the backlight of a liquid crystal panel is shown.
Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments as long as the substrates are connected in series.
FIG. 2A shows a plan view of the LED module substrate 40 connected in series using the connector 10, and FIG. 2B shows a perspective view of the vicinity of the connector 10.
FIG. 7 shows a state before the substrate 40 is connected using the connector 10.
The figure shows only the main part.
In FIG. 2A, a plurality of LED module substrates 40 (hereinafter simply referred to as substrates) in which LEDs 44 are arranged at equal intervals on the circuit surface 40c are arranged in series on the heat sink 1, and the connector 10 is connected to the connecting portion 41 thereof. An example of connection connection using
As shown in FIG. 7, the connector 10 passes the screw 2 from the connector mounting hole 29 to the screw hole 45 provided in the substrate 40, and the substrate 2 and the connector 10 are tightened together with the female screw portion 1 a of the heat sink 1. Screw together and attach.
As a result, the connector 10 covers the circuit surface in the vicinity of the connecting portion 41 where the connecting surfaces 42a of the substrate 40 abut each other, and is mounted so that the guide portion 28 provided in the housing 20 is located on the substrate side surface 42b.
The connector 10 is provided with an R-shaped cutout portion 27 that matches the shape of the LED 44 so that the LEDs 44 are arranged at equal intervals even in the vicinity of the board connecting portion 41.
FIG. 2 (a) shows an embodiment in which three substrates 40 are connected in series using the connector 10. However, since the number of connections of the substrates can be arbitrarily set and the connector is thin, the device to which the substrate is attached is shown. Easy to adapt to layout changes.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the connector 10 is provided with a plurality of contacts 30 arranged along the connecting portion 41 so as to straddle the connecting portion 41 of the substrate 40.
As shown in FIG. 7, the contact terminal portions 43a and 43b of the substrates facing each other with the connecting portion 41 interposed therebetween are the contact portions 32 of the elastic contact pieces 31 on both sides of the contact 30 in the substrate connecting direction. Elastic contact.
Accordingly, the adjacent substrates are connected to each other across the connecting portion 41 by the contact 30.

FIG. 1A shows a plan view of the connector 10 and FIG. 1B shows a front view.
FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along line AA, and FIG. 3A is an enlarged explanatory view of the vicinity of the contact 30 in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3 (b), the housing 20 has a board mounting surface 20a and a contact housing part 21, and a contact insertion port 22 is formed in the housing side part 20b substantially perpendicular to the board mounting surface. To communicate with the storage.
The storage portion 21 is provided with an engagement groove 23 having a predetermined length extending from the contact insertion opening 22 into the storage portion 21 by cutting the inner walls 21a of the left and right storage portions horizontally and symmetrically in the board connecting direction. A lance engaging portion 24 penetrating in a square shape from the central portion upward is provided.
A lance groove 25 having a width corresponding to the width of the lance 35 of the contact is provided in the upper portion of the inner wall of the contact storage portion from the upper portion of the contact insertion port 22 to the front of the lance engagement portion 24. Is provided with a guide inclined surface 22a that chamfers the opening edge and goes inward of the insertion port.

FIG. 3A shows a cross section taken along line BB in FIG. 3B, and only one contact is shown. The contact 30 disposed in the contact storage portion 21 is provided with an engagement piece 33 of a horizontal strip-shaped metal plate that is long in the substrate connecting direction and projecting in the width direction on both sides in the width direction. The joining piece 33 is fitted in the engaging groove 23.
Elastic contact pieces 31 are respectively provided at two locations on the insertion front end side and the insertion rear end side of the contact, and the contact portions 32 are formed by bending the respective front end portions so as to be rounded on the substrate 40 side. The portion is arranged in a direction protruding from the contact portion protruding port 26 of the contact accommodating portion 21 as shown in FIG. 3B, and is electrically connected to the contact terminal portions 43a and 43b of the adjacent substrate circuit.
The contact 30 is connected to the contact terminal portions 43a and 43b of the substrate by branching the tip side of the elastic contact piece to form two contact portions 32, and these two contact portions are formed on one contact terminal portion of the substrate. If any of 32 is conductive, the connection is a two-point contact and the reliability of electrical connection is high.
Further, the contact 30 is provided with a U-shaped cut 34a at the center of the connector fixing portion 34, and the inside of the cut 34a is formed as a tongue protruding in the direction of the contact insertion port 22. The tongue is bent at an obtuse angle upward to form a lance 35. By providing, the engaging piece 33 is inserted into the contact engaging groove 23 from the contact insertion port 22 and the lance 35 is inserted in the board connecting direction while being bent along the lance groove 25.
Then, the lance 35 is elastically restored at the lance engaging portion 24 and snap-engaged with its inner wall, and the engaging piece 33 is positioned by striking the back of the engaging groove 23 and is mounted in the contact accommodating portion 21. be able to.
If the contact insertion port 22 of the contact storage portion 21 is located on the side surface of the connector housing 20 on the board connecting direction side, as shown in FIG. May be provided, and may be set as necessary.
The assembly of the connector 10 is completed very simply by slidingly inserting the contact 30 from the contact insertion port 22 and engaging with the connector 10, and there is no need for a wire crimping process or a soldering process as in the prior art. Because it is very productive.
Further, the connector 10 does not require a wire routing space, has a small number of parts, and has a very simple structure. Therefore, the connector 10 can be extremely low in height, and the degree of design freedom on the device side to which the connector is attached can be greatly increased. .
The height of the connector 10 can be made lower than the height of about 2 mm of the LED side portion 44a of the LED module substrate 40 shown in FIG. 2B, for example, so that the LED module substrate for the backlight of the liquid crystal panel can be used. When used for connection, it is possible to effectively reduce the thickness of the backlight.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the contact has another shape.
Here, FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line cc of FIG. 4B and shows only one contact.
The contact 30a is an example in which an elastic contact piece 31a is formed by folding a metal plate within the contact storage portion 21 at an acute angle toward the substrate 40 at each end portion of the contact storage portion 21.
In this case, the tip of the elastic contact piece 31a is rounded on the substrate 40 side and bent upward to form a contact portion 32a with the substrate.

5 and 6 show another embodiment of the connector having a different mounting structure to the board.
The connector 10a shown in FIG. 5A is provided with an attachment leg 28a extending from the housing 20 so as to straddle the substrate 40, and the attachment leg 28a is directly screwed to the heat sink 1 on which the substrate 40 is placed. This is an example of mounting on the board connecting portion 41.
A connector 10b shown in FIG. 5 (b) is provided with a locking claw portion 28b that engages with the heat sink 1, and this locking claw portion 28b is snap-engaged with a locking claw receiving portion 1b provided on the heat sink 1. It is an example attached on the connection part 41. FIG.
A connector 10c shown in FIG. 6 directly sandwiches the board, and shows a case where the housing 20 is provided with a clamping claw portion 28c that faces the side surface of the board in the width direction.
In this case, the connector 10c is configured such that the side surface 42b in the width direction near the connecting surface 42a of the boards 40a and 40b is held by the holding claw 28c while the claw 28d of the holding claw 28c is fitted to the claw receiving part 42c of the board. The boards 40a and 40b are fitted and attached to the board, and the boards are connected.

1 shows a connector according to the present invention. Explanatory drawing of the attachment state to the LED module board | substrate of the connector which concerns on this invention is shown. The explanatory view of the attachment state to the housing of a contact is shown. Explanatory drawing of the attachment state to the housing of the contact of another shape is shown. Explanatory drawing of the other mounting method of the connector to the board | substrate is shown. Explanatory drawing of the other mounting method of the connector to the board | substrate is shown. The state which removed the connector from the connection part of the board | substrate is shown. A conventional substrate connecting method will be described.

Explanation of symbols

1 Heat sink (base)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1a Female thread part 1b Locking claw receiving part 2 Screw 10, 10a, 10b, 10c Connector 20 Connector housing 20a Housing board mounting surface 20b Housing side part 21 Contact storage part 21a Contact storage part inner wall 22 Contact insertion port 22a Guide inclined surface 23 Engaging groove 24 Lance engaging portion 25 Lance groove 26 Contact portion protruding port 27 Notch portion 28 for LED placement Guide portion 28a Mounting leg portion 28b Locking claw portion 28c Holding claw portion 28d Holding claw portion claw 29 Mounting hole 30, 30a Contacts 31, 31a Elastic contact pieces 32, 32a Contact portions 33 Engagement pieces 34 Contact fixing portions 34a Notches 35 Lances 40, 40a, 40b LED module substrate 40c Substrate circuit surface 41 Substrate connection portion 42a Substrate connection surface 42b Substrate connection Side surface 42c next to the surface Claw receiving portions 43a, 43 Board circuit contact terminal 44 LED
44a LED side 45 Screw hole

Claims (2)

It is a connector that is electrically connected by a connecting portion that abuts a plurality of substrates,
The connector includes a housing and a contact, and the housing is a contact for electrically connecting between a board mounting surface for mounting on one side of the board on both sides of the abutting and a contact contact portion provided on each side of the board. And a contact storage section that stores
The contact housing portion has an engagement groove on both inner walls along a contact insertion direction that is substantially parallel to the connecting direction of the substrate from a contact insertion opening provided on a side surface of the housing, and the contact protrudes on both sides in the width direction. And having elastic contact pieces at two locations on the insertion front end side and the insertion rear end side, and engaging the contact engagement pieces along the engagement grooves provided in the contact storage portion. The elastic contact piece on the insertion tip side protrudes from one board mounting surface toward the board, the elastic contact piece on the insertion rear end side protrudes from the other board mounting surface toward the board, and the connectors A connector that is mounted across one side of the board. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the contact and the housing are locked by a lance provided on one side and a lance locking part provided on the other side.

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